Foundations of Buddhism by Helena Ivanovna Roerich 1930 (1971).pdf

FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHISM

By Helena Roerich

Agni Yoga Society, Inc.

This book or any portion thereof

may not be reproduced in English

or in translation to any other language

without written permission from the publisher

FOREWORD

The Great Gotama gave to the world a complete Teaching of the perfect construction of

life. Each attempt to make a god of the great revolutionist, leads to absurdity.

Previous to Gotama there was, of course, a whole succession of those who bore the

common welfare, but their teachings crumbled to dust in the course of millenniums. Therefore

the Teaching of Gotama should be accepted as the first teaching of the laws of matter and the

evolution of the world.

Contemporary understanding of the community permits a wondrous bridge from

Gotama Buddha up to the present time. We pronounce this formula neither for extolling nor

for demeaning, but as an evident and immutable fact.

The law of fearlessness, the law of the renunciation of property, the law of the

evaluation of labor, the law of the dignity of human personality, beyond castes and outer

distinctions, the law of true knowledge, the law of love based upon self-knowledge, make

of the covenants of the Teachers a continuous rainbow of the joy of humanity.

Let us construct the foundations of Buddhism in its manifested covenants. The simple

Teaching, equal in beauty to the Cosmos, will dispel every suggestion of idolatry, unworthy of the

great Teacher of men.

Knowledge was the leading path of all great Teachers. Knowledge will permit a free and

vital approach to the great Teaching, as vitally real as is great Matter itself.

We shall not introduce the latest complexities; we shall speak briefly about those

foundations that cannot be denied.

Joy to all peoples! Joy to all those who labor!

FOUNDATIONS OF BUDDHISM

In the foundations of Buddhism, one cannot pause over the later complications and

ramifications. It is important to know that the idea of the purification of the Teaching is always

alive in the Buddhist consciousness. Soon after the Teacher’s death the celebrated councils took

place in Rājagriha, and after in Vaiśālī and Patna, restoring the Teaching to its original

simplicity.

The principal existing schools of Buddhism are: the Māhāyana (Tibet, Mongolia, the

Kalmucks, the Buriats, China, Japan, Northern India) and the Hīnayāna (Indo-China, Burma,

Siam, Ceylon, and India). But both of these schools remember equally well the qualities of the

Teacher himself.

The qualities of Buddha are: Muni—the wise, from the clan of Śakya; Śakya Simha—

Śakya, the Lion; Bhagavat—the Blessed One; Sādhu—the Teacher; Jina—the Conqueror; the

Ruler of the Benevolent Law.

Of unusual beauty is the coming of the King in the image of a mighty mendicant. “Go, ye

mendicants, bring salvation and benevolence to the peoples.” In this command of Buddha, in

this term mendicants all is contained.

Understanding the Teaching of Buddha, you realize whence emanates the assertion of the

Buddhists— “Buddha is a man.” His teaching of Life is above all and every prejudice. The

temple does not exist for him, but there is a place of assembly and a home of knowledge—the

Tibetan du-khang and tsug-lag-khang.

Buddha disputed the conventional conception of God. Buddha denied the existence of an

eternal and immutable soul. Buddha gave the teaching for every day. Buddha struggled

forcefully against possessions. Buddha fought personally against the fanaticism of castes and the

privileges of the classes. Buddha affirmed experienced, trustworthy knowledge and the value of

labor. Buddha bade the study of the life of the Universe in its full reality. Buddha laid the

foundations of the community, foreseeing the victory of the World Community.

Hundreds of millions of worshippers of Buddha are scattered throughout the world and

each of them affirms: “I take refuge in the Buddha, I take refuge in the Teaching, I take refuge in

the Sangha.”

——————

The Buddhist written traditions and our contemporary researches have established a

series of details of the life of Gotama Buddha. Buddha’s death is ascribed by some of the

investigators to the year 483 B.C. According to Singhalese chronicles, Buddha lived from 621 to

543 B.C. But Chinese chronicles have fixed the birth of Buddha in the year 1024 B.C. The age of

the Teacher at his death is given as about eighty years. The place of the birth of the Teacher is

known as Kapilavastu, situated in the Nepalese Terai. The royal line of Śakyas, to which

Gotama belonged, is known.

Undoubtedly all biographies of the great Teacher have been greatly elaborated by his

contemporaries and followers, especially in the most recent writings, but in order to preserve

the coloring and the character of the epoch, we must to a certain extent refer to the traditional

exposition.

——————

According to the traditions of the sixth century B.C. the domain of Kapilavastu existed in

North India in the foothills of the Himalayas and was populated by numerous tribes of Śakyas,

descendants of Ikshvāku of the solar race of Kshatriyas. They were ruled by the Elder of the clan

who resided in the city of Kapilavastu, of which no traces are now left; during Buddha’s time it

was already destroyed by a hostile neighboring king. At that period, Śuddhodana, the last direct

descendant of Ikshvāku, reigned at Kapilavastu. Of this king and Queen Māyā was born the

future great Teacher, who received the name of Siddhārtha, which means—”He who fulfilled

his purpose.”

Visions and prophecies preceded his birth and the event itself, on the full-moon day of

May, was attended with all propitious signs in heaven and on earth. Thus the great Rishi Asita

dwelling in the Himalayas, having learned from the Devas that a Bodhisattva, the future

Buddha, had been born to the world of men in the Lumbinī Park and that he would turn the

Wheel of the Doctrine, immediately set out on a journey to pay homage to the future Teacher of

men. Reaching the palace of King Śuddhodana, he expressed the desire to see the newborn

Bodhisattva. The King ordered the child to be brought to the Rishi, expecting his blessing. But the

Rishi on seeing the child, first smiled and then wept. The King anxiously asked the reason of

his sorrow and whether he saw an ill omen for his son. To this the Rishi replied that he saw

nothing harmful for the child. He rejoiced because the Bodhisattva would achieve full

enlightenment and become a great Buddha; and he grieved because his own life was short and he

would not live to hear the great Doctrine preached.

Queen Māyā, after giving birth to the great Bodhisattva, departed life, and her sister

Prajāpatī took the child and reared it. In Buddhist history she is known as Buddha’s first

female disciple and the foundress and head of a Sangha for bhikshunīs.

——————

On the fifth day, one hundred and eight Brahmins, versed in the Vedas, were invited by

King Śuddhodana to his palace. They were to give a name to the newborn Prince and read his

destiny by the position of the luminaries. Eight of the most learned said: “He who has such signs

as the Prince will become either a Universal Monarch, Cakravartin, or, if he retires from the

world, will become a Buddha and remove the veil of ignorance from the sight of the world.”

The eighth, the youngest, added, “The Prince will leave the world after seeing four signs:

an old man, a sick man, a corpse and an anchorite.”

——————

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